All News articles – Page 1815
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News
A simple solution to the problem of non-compliance
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) reports that the level of compliance in relation to referral arrangements remains low. Antony Townsend makes plain his disappointment (see [2008] Gazette, 6 November, 1). It appears that the SRA does not understand why this is happening. We believe we do, and that the reason, ...
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Short-sighted?
In reference to your negative editorial on the outcome of the postal ballot on Charter amendments (see [2008] Gazette, 30 October, 8), the powers that be at Chancery Lane should not assume that the majority who voted against the proposals were merely motivated by protectionist tendencies in difficult times.
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Can 83-year old legislation enable home buyers to recoup deposits
We have clients who signed a contract in June 2007 to purchase a flat in a large new development, off-plan. At exchange of contracts, they had a mortgage offer based on the flat having a value of £470,000 and they paid a deposit of £47,000. ...
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Legal aid burden
Job cuts at the Legal Services Commission (LSC) could increase administrative burdens on legal aid solicitors, practitioner groups have warned. The LSC announced last week it is to shed 600 posts, reducing its workforce to 1,100, and close seven of its 13 offices. ‘More efficient processes ...
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Review: All Wind and Pistol
On the inside back cover of All Wind and Pistol, we find, as is standard in hardback novels, a short biography of the author. Roger Butters, it says, ‘practised as a solicitor until he took early retirement in order to pursue his many interests, which include Buddhism, karate, aviation and ...
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Anglo-Welsh
I am sure I was not alone in reading your focus on Wales with a mixture of interest and frustration (see [2008] Gazette, 23 October, 12). The thriving legal community in Chester was barely mentioned.
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New assault on third-party capture
Solicitors are joining forces to attack the practice of insurance companies ‘capturing’ personal injury clients. The move reflects continuing concern that some insurance companies are pressurising claimants into instructing companies’ panel solicitors, rather than their independent solicitor, and to accept reduced compensation.
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KBF back in business soon?
Troubled legal lender Key Business Finance (KBF) could be back in business within weeks – but money already paid to KBF would remain in the hands of its administrators. Gazette sources said KBF’s management team is looking to buy ...
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Review: The Barristers
The BarristersBBC2, 9pm, 14 NovemberThe Open University, BBC Three years ago the BBC thought it would be a good idea to make a solicitor’s office the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. No Win, No Fee portrayed the colourful personal injury practice at Manchester firm Amelans. This year it’s the turn ...
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HMRC warned over barristers
HM Revenue & Customs prosecutors have relied too heavily on too small a pool of barristers to fight cases, the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts said this week. According to its report on the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO), one set of chambers, ...
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Blow for third-party funding
A leading Australian litigation funder has pulled out of its European joint venture less than six months after it set up, the Gazette can reveal. In a blow to the nascent third-party funding market, IMF has withdrawn from Claims Funding International (CFI), which it formally launched ...
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New procedure for recovery of costs in pro bono cases
Pro bono came of age on 1 October. That was the day when section 194 of the Legal Services Act 2007 came into effect. Section 194 confers legislative recognition of pro bono legal services and enables a valuable new source of financial support for organisations ...
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News
Pro bono lesson
Attorney General Baroness Scotland launched the seventh national pro bono week with a mock trial at the Royal Courts of Justice, led by the National Centre for Citizenship & the Law. BPP Law School students debated knife and gun crime with a jury of young people from the Behaviour Support ...
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Jersey offers British lawyers a choice opportunity
For a couple of weeks a year, a select few British lawyers become the envy of their peers. Instead of struggling down the Strand to argue cases before unsympathetic judges, they sit as judges themselves – indeed, as no less than a court of appeal. ...
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Building Society mergers, offshore farms and property development
Big build: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is advising Skipton Building Society on its proposed merger with Scarborough Building Society, which, if completed, would create a society with 860,000 members and more than £16bn in assets. Completion is expected in early 2009. ...
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Let 'em eat cake
Talk about having your cake and eating it. Walsall solicitors Enoch Evans is looking for sponsorship for the forthcoming local half-marathon. But hey, who can motivate themselves to slog through all those miles of training on wet November evenings unless there is a tangible benefit ...
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News
Identity cards and protecting information
I was surprised to hear a former colleague mentioned on Radio 4’s News Quiz last week. Harvey Mattinson – now with GCHQ – suggested that it was ‘absolute bunkum’ for politicians to claim that ID cards would help thwart terrorism.
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Medical care 'lottery' for detainees
A top forensic physician has criticised the quality of medico-legal help available to some police station detainees, backing lawyers’ claims that cost-cutting in medical care could block access to justice.
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Child care cost case fails
Councils have failed in their attempt to challenge increases in court fees for child care and placement applications. High Court judges last week dismissed a claim brought by four local authorities that the policy of ‘full cost recovery’ in family proceedings was unlawfully introduced. Since ...
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Civil Procedure Rules changes, part two
The most important forthcoming change to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) is the new part 6 on service (see [2008] Gazette, 18 September, 25]. This article considers other reforms.